After the draw against Torino and the umpteenth comeback suffered, the coach entered the group with a straight leg, highlighting what his team lacks to make the definitive leap in quality
Question of character. Not personality, although in common perception the two terms may appear synonymous. Luciano Spalletti spoke clearly after the draw against Torino, summing up seven months in which his Juve was able to show off good football and obtain results, but also to dissolve in the decisive moment of the season. “If you always have doubts about what’s happening to you, you have no character and you can’t play for Juventus, because this is what makes the difference,” the Juventus coach said bluntly, entering the team group with a straight leg. Who, again in his words, “is healthy and has quality, but the pitch doesn’t tell lies and always tells the truth”. So, who is the former national coach referring to in detail?
who are the players of character for shoulder pads
—
He himself gives some clues. Meanwhile, the definition of a footballer with character. “He’s the one who doesn’t want to listen to anything or anyone and knows what his goal must always be, it’s something different and character makes the difference – he explained -. Character is a quality that counts as much as physical strength and technique: the head of the footballer who doesn’t let himself be upset, who doesn’t deform at times, on pitches or against opponents.” Spalletti also gave three specific examples: “Locatelli is a footballer with character, as is McKennie. And Yildiz’s runs also demonstrate that he does something that is not in his characteristics”, he added in the post-derby press conference. A list to which we can easily add Conceiçao, another who, like the Turk, never saves himself, and Vlahovic, someone with a “s… face” to use the Juve coach’s definition.
shoulder pads and Juve’s lack of character
—
It is clear that, for one reason or another, Spalletti’s reference was to those players who, under his management, were unable to “come out of doubt”. And specifically in the derby with Torino, the first thought goes to the substitute players, all of whom, in one way or another, were victims of external conditioning throughout the entire season. From Teun Koopmeiners and Jonathan David, crushed by the weight of expectations respectively for the figures of their price tag and salary and transformed into ugly ducklings, to Edon Zhegrova, never incisive and often “soft” on the balls that could decide a match. From the return with Galatasaray to the last match against Fiorentina. But, broadening our gaze, also to that Di Gregorio who was unable to “develop the ability to accept being despised, in order not to depend on the gazes of others and to be free”, or to that Kelly who was too shy in his approach so much so that he forced the coach to tell him, during the San Siro match against Milan, “I too can play like that!”. A question of character, then. Not of personality, because that “changes every now and then, some personalities also agree to be at peace with themselves a little, but the character is the same, it’s always the same and it always takes over, because you can’t be different”. And, for Spalletti, his Juventus needs it badly…
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
